VA - Dream Theory 002 (2023)

For the fourth outing on Anna Wall’s Dream Theory, the label returns for another compilation that gathers a collective of artists to share their unique sound explorations. This time we journey through experimentations with synthesisers, modular, explorations in 432Hz, the voice, nature recordings, and the frequencies of plants.

Thoma Bulwer and Natalie Kay’s project is a coming together of two worlds, fusing the magic of sound healing with ambient electronic music. They’ve created layered ambient dreamscapes through live recordings of Natalie’s sound therapy instruments - all recorded at 432Hz - with the aspiration to bring healing and sound discoveries to a new audience.

‘Contemplation’ features spoken word and singing in Japanese from Los Angeles based artist Ayako to soothe, open your mind and place the listener into a meditative state. The track is made with cascading hypnotic melodies and spacey sound design by Personas; a collaborative project by Smoke Thief and Pleasure Cruiser.

Portuguese artist Apart returns to the label with ‘Atua’ and ‘Chemical Thrives’, two tracks that channel his emotions, thoughts and feelings into poignant pieces of music. “I record the sound of the ocean, the forest or the city, and then I try to understand the natural movement of the elements and the textures to inspire me” he explains.

Joey Dean aka Natural Symphony’s compositions are made by detecting electrical patterns in plants and sending them into musical instruments, allowing the plants to play the instrument via MIDI. “This particular track sent my imagination into some kind of forest, watching the plants grow and in my mind now when I listen back it's all I can see, nature growing and doing its thing. The intention behind this track was to capture a moment in time where the plants were communicating with each other in a relaxed state. The plants are so sensitive to the energy in the room so a lot of meditation and palo santo was used in the making” says Joey.

Anna Wall’s ‘Forest Trails’ is a piano solo entwined with field recordings from Epping Forest, written back in 2020. ‘é finita’ means it’s over in Italian, marking a crossroads of endings and new beginnings.

The inspiration for Samuel Padden’s ‘Voyager’ came from straight universe pondering. “The vastness but also the minuscule and all the connections in between an interloping cacophony of blissful drones and pads” says Padden. “A star died a long time ago so you could be here today, however tomorrow you will be the spark that lights an infinite amount of quasars and galaxies forever and ever. The celestial path will start over again.”

Lord of The Magi’s ‘Drones Of The Deep’ is a melodic trip down into the ocean. “I utilised a pair of stereo microphones to experiment with a lot of different sounds, made in the physical realm, and merged them with synth sounds and recordings of different spaces” he explains. “Some of the clicky and underwatery sounds are actually made with my mouth. It was really an attempt to recreate a journey to the bottom of the sea.”

Barcelona-based Biofeedback recorded ‘Hunab Ku’ with his modular system and post production effects made in his DAW while flying back to his homeland in Mexico. “It was after five years of not seeing my family so I have a special connection with this peaceful track” he says.